What a great 2nd 6 weeks it has been. The PLTW program has participated in many different activities this semester including the Surry County Science Fair, and the North Surry Engineering day. From these events, the program had great experiences building relationships with Engineers and learning about the Engineering field. All of the PLTW students were able to speak to ten Engineers. Each students had questions to ask them and they were also able to get contact information for the future.
Sydney Edwards was the only PLTW student to enter the Surry County Science Fair this year. She entered her "Brownie Topper" as a design experiment. Her design problem was "A brownie factory needs me to design a device that will put a chocolate drop on top of a brownie. The machine must position a brownie on a separate device that will then move it into position for a dropper to descend and dispense the icing drop. The brownie with the chocolate drop should then move to another position where it will be placed with other finished brownies to await inspection and packaging." She designed a device using VEX equipment and using RobotC to program it to do what she wanted it to do. She was able to win first place in the school division and first place in the county division. She will be taking her project to ASU on December 13th to hopefully win the region. Below are a few pictures of Sydney and her success. We wish her well at regionals.
Introduction to Engineering (IED)
Over the last 6 weeks in IED the students have been continuing to learn the design process by creating projects in Inventor. Inventor is the 3D drawing software that PLTW uses to develop the students for real world applications. The students have been learning how to use different tools on inventor like loft, constraining tools, quick keys, assembly tools, different ways to extrude, drive constraints, explosions, etc. They have also learned in more detail about part drawings, working drawings, detailed drawings, and assemblies. The students have completed a few different projects this six weeks while learning all of these items. They have re engineered their own cellphone case and printed it out on the 3D printer. They have also completed their train project by drawing 10 different parts of the train, assembling all the parts, completing dimension drawings and completing a video of the train rolling down the track. This allowed the students to gain a deeper knowledge on the different tools in inventor. Below are examples of students work in the IED class.
Kassidy Puckett and her cell phone case. Austin York and his cell phone case.
Both of these students took all of the dimensions off of their personal cell phone and created a custom case to fit their phones. They had to take into consideration all of the tolerances from their phone to the case that they designed. When they finished drawing it in inventor they were able to print out a prototype using the 3D printer.
Reid Walker design his train in inventor. He was able to constrain the wheels to the track so that the train could move down the track in a video at the end of the project.
Brady Hatcher took a different route and decided to create Thomas The Train in inventor. Brady was the only student that went over and beyond the constraints of the project to make it his own.
Principles of Engineering (POE)
In POE the students have done several challenging projects and learned many different real world skills. The students have just completed their marble sorting project. Some of the items that they covered in this project was research, brainstorming, completing a design brief, sketching (oblique, isometric, multi view) designing, coding, creating a portfolio of their work, deadlines, and presenting to different classes. This project will also be able to be put in each students graduation portfolio. The project took 15 days to complete.
The students had a design problem that they had to concur while completing and learning all of the items above. The design problem was, "The
National Recreation Park Association (NRPA) has asked your team to develop a
solution to a growing problem in their parks. The association has placed dumpsters
for recyclable material throughout the parks. They have a sorting facility;
however, they need the device that will sort the recyclable material. Design,
model, and test a device that will separate recyclable materials".
Below are a few drawings from different students portfolio.
These are sketches and descriptions from Chynna Brintle. She done a great job of giving detailed descriptions of what she was designing.
These are sketches and descriptions from Tre Gates. He was able to give detailed views in his sketches to describe what his design process conveyed.
This is Aaron Caudle's Marble Sorter design
This is Jonathan Dalton's Marble sorter design
One of the biggest days of Chase Chandler's life happened during the second six weeks as well. Chase is a senior and will have taking 4 different PLTW classes before he graduates high school. He has excelled in his IED and POE classes while traveling around the state playing baseball. On November 9th, he signed to play Division 1 baseball at Liberty as a right handed pitcher. Congratulations to Chase.
Another great accomplishment for one of our PLTW students went out to Kendal Tucker. Kendal has taken IED and is currently enrolled in POE. He has maintained an A+ average while traveling the state and playing baseball. On November 9th, Kendal signed with Division 1 Winthrop as an infielder in baseball. Congrats goes out to Kendall and all of his accomplishment in the classroom and on the field. Pictured above and to the right is Kendal and Chase on signing day at North Surry.
